diff --git a/.github/workflows/func-tests-live.yaml b/.github/workflows/func-tests-live.yaml
index d2242620..b51f9530 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/func-tests-live.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/func-tests-live.yaml
@@ -36,11 +36,13 @@ jobs:
         shell: bash
         env:
           # Two tokens with different scopes:
-          # - _CI exercises read-only / pull-scoped endpoints
-          #   (scopes-send, junit-process, queue status, queue show,
-          #   ci git-refs / queue-info).
-          # - _ADMIN exercises destructive queue-admin endpoints
-          #   (queue pause / unpause).
+          # - _CI exercises CI-tooling endpoints (scopes-send,
+          #   junit-process). ci git-refs / queue-info are
+          #   locally evaluated and need no token at all.
+          # - _ADMIN exercises every endpoint under /merge-queue/
+          #   (status, show, pause, unpause). The CI token is
+          #   rejected with 403 on these, so they all share the
+          #   queue-management-scoped admin token.
           # Tests select the appropriate fixture; absent tokens
           # cause individual tests to skip rather than fail.
           LIVE_TEST_MERGIFY_TOKEN_CI: ${{ secrets.MERGIFY_CLI_LIVE_TEST_MERGIFY_TOKEN_CI }}
diff --git a/func-tests/conftest.py b/func-tests/conftest.py
index eca552c8..e7e33943 100644
--- a/func-tests/conftest.py
+++ b/func-tests/conftest.py
@@ -75,11 +75,14 @@ class CliResult:
 
 @pytest.fixture
 def live_token() -> str:
-    """Token for read-only / pull-scoped live endpoints.
+    """Token for CI-integration live endpoints.
 
     Skips the test if ``LIVE_TEST_MERGIFY_TOKEN_CI`` isn't set.
-    Use this for everything that doesn't need queue-admin rights
-    (scopes-send, junit-process, queue status / show, etc.).
+    Use this for CI-tooling endpoints that don't touch the queue:
+    ``ci scopes-send`` and ``ci junit-process``. Every endpoint
+    under ``/merge-queue/`` (status, show, pause, unpause)
+    requires queue-management scope and rejects the CI token
+    with 403, so those tests must use [`live_admin_token`].
     """
     token = os.environ.get("LIVE_TEST_MERGIFY_TOKEN_CI", "").strip()
     if not token:
diff --git a/func-tests/test_live_smoke.py b/func-tests/test_live_smoke.py
index ca7047be..7e2948fc 100644
--- a/func-tests/test_live_smoke.py
+++ b/func-tests/test_live_smoke.py
@@ -99,6 +99,56 @@ def test_queue_pause_unpause_roundtrip(
     )
 
 
+def test_queue_status(
+    live_admin_token: str,
+    cli: typing.Callable[..., typing.Any],
+) -> None:
+    """`GET /v1/repos/{owner}/{repo}/merge-queue/status`.
+
+    Uses the admin-scoped token because all queue endpoints
+    (read or write) require queue-management scope on the test
+    repo; the CI-scoped token is rejected with 403.
+
+    ``--json`` mode is a passthrough of the API response, so the
+    smoke test only checks that the call succeeds and parses as
+    JSON — the contract we want preserved across the Python →
+    Rust port is the URL, the auth, and that the response is
+    valid JSON.
+    """
+    import json
+
+    # Group-level options (``--token`` / ``--api-url`` /
+    # ``--repository``) come BEFORE the subcommand. Click requires
+    # this for the Python implementation (the options live on the
+    # ``@queue`` group); Rust accepts both orders via clap's
+    # ``global = true``. Put them on the group so the same test
+    # works against both ends of the port.
+    result = cli(
+        "queue",
+        "--api-url",
+        API_URL,
+        "--token",
+        live_admin_token,
+        "--repository",
+        REPOSITORY,
+        "status",
+        "--json",
+    )
+    assert result.returncode == 0, (
+        f"queue status failed\nstdout:\n{result.stdout}\nstderr:\n{result.stderr}"
+    )
+    try:
+        payload = json.loads(result.stdout)
+    except json.JSONDecodeError as exc:
+        pytest.fail(
+            f"queue status --json emitted non-JSON output\n"
+            f"error: {exc}\nstdout:\n{result.stdout}",
+        )
+    assert isinstance(payload, dict), (
+        f"queue status --json must emit a JSON object\nstdout:\n{result.stdout}"
+    )
+
+
 def test_ci_git_refs_fallback(
     cli: typing.Callable[..., typing.Any],
 ) -> None: